With the growth of computer and information systems, and related network technologies such as wireless and Internet communications, ever increasing amounts of electronic information are communicated, transferred and subsequently processed by users and/or systems. As an example, electronic mail programs have become a popular application among computer users for generating and receiving such information. However, with the heightened popularity of e-mail and other communications systems, problems have begun to appear in regard to managing and processing increasing amounts of information from a plurality of sources.
Among these problems, many users now face a deluge of e-mail and/or other information to sort through, manage and/or respond to, such that the capability of being able to send, receive and process information has almost become a hindrance to being productive. For example, some users report receiving over 100 e-mail messages a day. With such large numbers of received electronic information, it has thus become difficult to manage information according to what is important and what is not as important without substantially expending valuable time to make a personal determination as to the importance of each received piece of information. As an example of these determinations, users may have to decide whether messages should be responded to immediately, passed over to be read at a later time, or simply deleted due to non-importance (e.g., junk mail). As can be appreciated, having to personally inspect and determine whether a plurality of received items should be responded to or discarded can take valuable time away from more productive activities. It also can be a distraction to continually check and peruse an inbox, for example, regarding messages that are received over time.